Bingo in the UK

Bingo as we know it in the States is the nice and quiet Saturday afternoon game you play with you 85 year old grandma for pennies. But just across the Atlantic ocean in the UK you will find young and old alike gathered together for one of the biggest social activities there is on the island.

In the UK, bingo did not become widely known until around 1960, when the Gaming Act passed by Parliament permitted bingo games in members only establishments. Bingo in the UK has been a commercial proposition, and so British bingo has been quite different to that found in the States.

The Big Game of UK Bingo

Spread across Britain were many buildings that had been condemned or rendered obsolete by the rise of the television; theatres, cinemas and dancehalls. Most of these required very little modification to turn them over to bingo halls. British Bingo Halls have been by far more plush than the American counterparts.

In the UK, glass cabinets were built with fans, and filled with numbered ping-pong balls. They were easy to rig and unsophisticated, which led to the adoption of electronic Random Number Generators (or the RNG). In fact, the game proved to be so successful that in the 1980s there were several clubs opened in brand new purpose built halls.

Now the bingo halls are being filled not just by the old ladies with bingo wings, but also the young and hip that are looking for a new and exciting way to spend Monday nights.